Green Room

Cat taken to vet for flea bath is mistakenly euthanized

It wasn’t curiosity that killed an an 8-year-old cat in Gardner, Mass., but negligence.

The Telegram & Gazette of Worcester reports that Colleen Conlon asked her adult son Jesse to take her two cats to the Broadway Animal Hospital last week for a flea bath last week. Jesse took the 8-year-old, named Lady, to the clinic first. There, according to Conlon, he was asked to “fill out some paperwork; he said they were like index cards which had basic pet information.” He then headed home to retrieve Lady’s four-legged sister, Little Bit.

But he was taken aback when upon his return to the hospital he was asked if he wanted “the bodies.”

It was only then that Jesse discovered the clinic had initially handed him the wrong forms. By signing them, he had inadvertently authorized the vet to euthanize Lady. “At first he thought it was some cruel joke,” Conlon grimly notes.

The loss of Lady is a hardship for Colleen Colon. The cat had belonged to her daughter, who died in a car accident in 2010.

Conlon says she doesn’t believe there was “malicious intent” on the part of the clinic but has filed a complaint with the state attorney general’s office.

Records, meanwhile, show that Muhammad Malik, the vet who runs the clinic, was placed on probation by the state in 2005 as the result of unsatisfactory treatment he provided for an injured dog. He did not comply with the standards in place, according to the state’s website, and had to attend 25 hours of continuing education in radiology and orthopedics before his license was reinstated.

Blowback

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Was this a vet clinic he had been gone to before? I just have problems with euthanizineg a perfectly healthy pet. If I were a vet, I would ask why they were putting the animal down and encourage them to try to find another home for it. Anyway, always read what you are signing.

I once had two cats put down within a week because of a gas leak. They saved our lives since we wouldn’t have known about being poisoned without them getting so sick. And–get this–when we moved out, our landlord gave us sh!t about returning the pet deposit even though he took a fine from the city for the leaky stove pipes! Moral of the story: Have a canary in the coal mine; have a cat in the kitchen.

I find this a bit hard to swallow without knowing much more detail. When my cat was euthanised we had a long chat with the vet beforehand BEFORE we signed anything, then another when it was time, and we were there the whole time it happened. We went in there upset and the staff knew from our faces what we were there for. I can’t believe a vet would simply put the cat down on the basis of a form being filled out without personally talking to the owner.

I wonder if the kid didn’t like the cat and told his mother that was what had happened.

What with my wife being a cat collector and disciplined feral cat feeder and TNR volunteer and excessive cash contributor to cat causes and all, I fancy myself – her faithful errand boy – to be somewhat expert on the subject regarding visiting veterinary facilities. Right off, in a typical cat/dog/hamster veterinary office there may only be the veterinary practitioner who is the only member of the group that is trained to do anything. In all likelihood, everyone else in the practice is only skilled with good intentions. This works well for the practitioner because they really need people with good intentions because they can’t always afford to pay for university trained vet-techs and associate degreed office staff.

What a vet can afford for their practice has everything to do with location, clientele, exam volume, and cash flow. Pet owners are the cheapest sums of bishes when it comes to actually standing behind the promise of “please save it – I’ll pay you.” Clients (the pet owners) create much of the havoc a vet’s office experiences full-time. They think everyone needs to pet their dog or that their dog needs to inspect or sneer at everyone else’s pet. Cats sitting on owner’s laps are predictably problematic. Regardless of how formally trained the office staff may be, there is frequently a client who can set the office on its ear. Remember always that many animals are seeing the vet because they are afflicted with a contagious ailment. Most importantly, big dogs can and will rip holes in smaller animals and the horror is unforgettable.

If you want the best care for your pet at the vet then crate it the opportunity for allowing the best care. I don’t care if you walked or drove to the office, crate your pet. If your pet is crated, it is safe and it feels safe. You can have that peace of mind put to bed while you conduct business with the staff. Never let your pet out of your sight unless the visit becomes an overnight stay or hospitalization. If it does ensue that you need to leave your pet, ask to inspect the areas where your pet will be quartered. If you have any apprehension –ask candid questions or consider other options. Never let any vet tech take your pet out of the carrier to “just get a weight.” Keep your pet in the carrier and weigh both, then when you are in a secure exam room, indulge the tech to weigh the carrier and subtract it from the occupied weight.

Unless you have current rabies vaccination in accordance with your state’s laws, if your animal bites anyone in the office it must go to quarantine for rabies observation.

okay really? you all are talking about the guy’s religion? how do you know that this guy wouldn’t do the exact same thing even if he were a different religion? (and what if he happens to not even practice islam? we’re assuming because of his name)

this is sad because lefties will see this and say “see, conservatives stereotype people…” you’re just proving their point.

I promised the female member of an old couple that rented from me that if she died, I would take care of her cat Callie. Suffice to say that when she died, her husband had the Humane Society come and pick up Callie, because he decided he didn’t want to care for her. When I got home from work, I couldn’t find Callie to feed her so I asked him where she was and he told me he’d had the pound pick her up.

I immediately called the pound to get her back and they said the guy had asked that Callie be euthanized, and since he was the owner, they did it immediately.

The guy was in perfect health — and to kill his wife’s most treasured possession within a day of her death was the end of it for me.